Top U.S. Juniors Ready for Girls’ 16s & 18s Nationals in San Diego

July 31, 2015 07:31 PM

By J. Fred Sidhu, special to USTA.com

SAN DIEGO – The top junior players in the country will begin nine days of exciting competition as the USTA Girls’ 16s & 18s Nationals get underway at the Barnes Tennis Center on Saturday, Aug. 1. 

Nearly 400 girls 18 and under will compete for the title of national champion and the accompanying wild card into the singles main draw of the US Open (for the 18s champion) and a wild card into the US Open Junior Championships (for the 16s champion). The 18s doubles champions will also receive a wild card into the US Open women’s doubles main draw.

The girls’ 16s event will begin on Saturday, Aug. 1, and conclude with the singles and doubles finals on Saturday, Aug. 8. The girls’ 18s tournament will start on Sunday, Aug. 2, and conclude with the 18s singles championship on Sunday, Aug. 9. Both divisions feature 192-player singles draws and doubles draws feature 96 teams.   

Tornado Alicia Black (pictured above) of Boca Raton, Fla., is the girls’ 18s singles top seed. She is currently ranked No. 456 in the Women’s Tennis Association singles rankings (as of July 27). Last month at Wimbledon, the 17-year-old reached the girls’ singles quarterfinals. In last year’s 18s Nationals, Black advanced to the singles final, where she fell to CiCi Bellis, who would go on to upset No. 12 seed Dominika Cibulkova at the US Open. 

The top singles seed in the girls’ 16s division is Natasha Subhash of Fairfax, Va. Among her results in girls’ 16s singles competition this year, the 13-year-old Subhash captured the USTA International Spring Championships and reached the finals of the Easter Bowl and the USTA National Clay Court Championships.

To view complete draws for all divisions, click here.  

The Opening Ceremony for the USTA Girls’ 16s & 18s Nationals is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 1, at the Barnes Tennis Center. The guest speaker is Katrina Adams, Chairman of the Board, CEO and President of the USTA.

Live audio play-by-play of the final two days of the tournament will be available on RadioTennis.com. The broadcast will include coverage of the girls’ 16s singles and girls’ 18s finals.

Also this year, the USTA Girls’ 16s & 18s National Championships will hold a special reunion of former tournament champions and past participants. Guests will attend the Opening Ceremony and take part in various social functions scheduled during the first weekend of the tournament. Those expected to attend include Ann Grossman Wunderlick, Anna Maria Fernandez, Barbara Jordan, Cammy MacGregor, Carrie Cunningham Lubitz, Debbie Graham Shaffer, Debbie Spence Nasim, Elly Hakami, Katrina Adams, Laxmi Poruri-Madan, Lea Antonopolis Inoue, Leigh Anne Eldredge Baxter, Marianne Werdel, Melissa Gurney, Shawn Foltz Emmons, Stephanie London Krogiuss, Stephanie Rehe and Susie Mascarin Keane.

The USTA Girls’ 16 & 18s National Championships are the premier hard-court tennis tournaments for amateur and professional American girls ages 18 and 16 and under in the U.S. Past tournament champions include Chris Evert, Tracy Austin, Andrea Jaeger, Zina Garrison, Mary Joe Fernandez, Jennifer Capriati and Lindsay Davenport.

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For more on the USTA Girls' 18s and 16s in San Diego, click here.

And for information on the USTA Boys' 18s and 16s National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich., click here.

 

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